A man sat behind me on a Metro train car that had just been vacated by the other passengers and masturbated into my hair. I only noticed when I became aware that he stood up, when I felt my hair move slightly, and felt something wet on my shoulder. In my shock, I turned around in time to see him beginning to sit back down and I asked him what fell into my hair. He said that he had dropped lotion onto me. I demanded to see the lotion immediately, which he could not produce. It was most definitely not lotion. His body language was upsetting and I quickly exited the train, but was still in shock from the assault. I knew what happened, but a part of me kept trying to convince myself that it couldn’t be real. I reported to the station manager who called Transit Police. Transit Police officer was mostly compassionate and was not interested in collecting any type of sample. While this most definitely could have been worse, it was completely disgusting and I feel very violated and upset.

Submitted 5/30/16

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

Around 7:15am on Tuesday, December 15, a man on the red line Metro bound for Silver Spring was sitting across the aisle from me. When I looked over, he was holding a newspaper over his lap, but had his penis exposed and was stroking it. He briefly looked me in the eye and continued stroking his penis. I turned away and moved to another seat, where I took a picture of his face to report to the Metro Transit Police. He had a tight black cap and sunglasses on the top of his head. He was wearing Adidas track pants, a black long sleeved shirt, and a light beige winter vest.

Submitted 12/15/15 by “JM”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

Video of Perpetrator is located here: http://youtu.be/Lz8MlgLgNtw. A man began to masturbate as soon as the person sitting in the seat in front of him left the train. He was sitting in the last seat at the end of the train car. I was sitting cornered across from him in the seat that faces that end of the car seats. He was wearing all grey, a button up grey long sleeve shirt with grey slacks and grey sneakers. He concealed his genitalia with a khaki-colored backpack, which he lifted to expose himself. While the train was full, I’d avoided eye contact from him. After the area cleared and he began to masturbate, I yelled loudly: “Everybody look at this guy here masturbating.” I took out my phone, told him I’m going to take his photo, and post it on the Internet. He took out his phone, may have also taken my photo then pretended to have a phone conversation. I yelled for him to get off at the next stop. He did, although not before calling me a “stupid bitch.” At the same stop a Metro employee boarded who I recounted the story to, and she told me to call the train operator. My final action was to email the pictures to WMATA.

Submitted 7/6/15 by “Anonymous”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

A few minutes after I sat down on the Metro at Silver Spring, someone started saying, “Hey.. Beautiful girl… Hey how you doing Mami?” at me repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I ignored them until finally one of guys said, “Hey, pretty, how you doing over there?” I looked at him, and said, “I’d be fine if you left me alone.” Then I got up and moved to the next car at the next train stop (Totten).

Submitted 7/17/15 by “KM”

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).

A young man, 20-something, slightly overweight, exposed himself in the railcar. We were the only ones in the car. He did it about 30 seconds before the Forest Glen stop an got off when the car stopped. I think he has done it before then. I did not get a picture.

I reported it the next day after looking up the number on line. The metro police recommend calling as it occurs. The police number is not posted inside the cars. I recommend Metro Police post their number inside the car to report incidents so they can be on scene in time.

Submitted 12/7/14 by Dawn Holmes.

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault? Share your story to help raise awareness about the pervasiveness and harmful effects of street harassment. All submissions are posted anonymously unless otherwise specified.

If you experience or have experienced sexual harassment on the DC Metro system: Whether the event is happening at the moment or occurred months ago, we strongly encourage you to report to Metro Transit Police (MTP): www.wmata.com/harassment or 202-962-2121. Reporting helps identify suspects as well as commons trends in harassment. You can program MTP’s number into your phone so you can easily reach them when needed.

If you need assistance in coping with public sexual harassment or assault, please contact the DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) 24/7 crisis hotline at 202-333-RAPE (202-333-7279).